Realistic Positioning of Social Businesses to Stem Climate Incentive Distortions within the Existing Market Economy

Muhammad Yunus

doi:10.69841/igee.2025.011

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Perspective Realistic Positioning of Social Businesses to Stem Climate Incentive Distortions within the Existing Market Economy: Muhammad Yunus; IGEE Proc 2025;2(2):53-54.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.69841/igee.2025.011
Published online: June 30, 2025

Chief Adviser of the Interim Government of Bangladesh

• Received: April 8, 2025 • Revised: April 8, 2025 • Accepted: May 8, 2025

Submitted for possible open-access publication under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Acknowledgments

It is widely acclaimed that the leadership of youth and marginalized communities is essential for creating sustainable development outcomes, particularly when women are empowered with some financial resources, along with basic training and policy guidelines. The development synergy that the country may experience is just enormous. In Bangladesh, what Grameen Bank initiated back in 1976, has now been included in the national development initiatives of many countries to ensure equity and justice. These initiatives are fully driven by women.

In my whole journey of life, I have personally experienced that youth can do amazing things, which are completely beyond the imagination of our generations. In Bangladesh, the young students led a mass uprising last July and August and stood against an autocratic and oppressive regime. Now, we dare to dream of a new Bangladesh because of the supreme sacrifices of thousands of young students. They stood for freedom and justice, based on their profound belief in liberalism, pluralism, and equity.

The ethos, wisdom, and courage of Generation Z are the guiding principles of a new Bangladesh, depending on which we dream to build an inclusive society to ensure equal opportunities for all. Though it is very hard to accept, the reality is that the world has failed to ensure climate justice and channel robust resources for climate adaptation and mitigation in the climate-vulnerable countries. Without tackling the climate crisis collectively, the global economy and development agenda can never be sustainable. We must act decisively on this for the benefit of the majority of the global population.

The transformative vision of a net-zero world has to be redeemed. I believe the world needs to engage in a shared vision of three zeros that we can materialize together: targeting zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emissions. A world where a young person anywhere in the world will have opportunities to grow, not as a job seeker but as an entrepreneur. A world where young people can unleash their latent creativity despite all limitations, where an entrepreneur can optimally balance social benefits, economic profits, and responsibility towards nature, where social business can help an individual transcend beyond consumers and can ultimately catalyze social and economic transformation.

Time demands new attitudes, new values, and new compacts across communities and countries, across developed and developing countries alike, across all actors and stakeholders. If we are to realize such a course correction, we, the government, non-government, business, and philanthropies, have to work together. If we accept and accommodate social business within the existing economic structure, we can bring meaningful changes in the lives of the bottom half of the population in every society.

If we can realistically position social business, we can stem much of the climate incentive distortions within the existing market economy. We should renew our commitment from today that our actions and policies must bridge the divides and the gaps. It is the call of our shared journey to a sustainable future. For our next generation, it is our decision whether to take a side with an equity-based society or continue with the usual actions that widen the gaps.

If our commitment and firm action can inspire the youths, women, children, and marginalized people to have a dream of equity and justice, then our development initiatives will be sustainable. Rest assured that Bangladesh will continue to deliver its policies and actions to secure peace, prosperity, and justice for everyone.

Acknowledgments

At the Seventh Global Engagement and Empowerment Forum (GEEF), held at Yonsei University in South Korea from March 13 to 14, 2025,Muhammad Yunus delivered an impactful speech emphasizing the urgent need to transform our approach to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Themed “Time for Action: Bridging Divides for a Sustainable Future,” the forum served as a vital platform for developing innovative solutions to global challenges and addressing delays in the implementation of the SDGs. This is a summarized transcript of Muhammad Yunus's speech.

Muhammad Yunus

2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Muhammad Yunus was born on June 28, 1940. He is a Bangladeshi economist, the founder and managing director of Grameen Bank. In 2006, Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work to “create economic and social development from below”. On August 6, 2024, Yunus was appointed to lead an interim government in Bangladesh. Muhammad Yunus 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Grameen Bank's objective since its establishment in 1983 has been to grant poor people small loans on easy terms. Grameen Bank is an institution that pioneered microcredit, a method of banking where small loans are given to the poor possessing no collateral, mostly to women, for income-generating activities. It has helped them get out of poverty, establishing creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 1972, following studies in Bangladesh and the USA, Yunus was appointed professor of economics at the University of Chittagong. When Bangladesh suffered a famine in 1974, he felt that he had to do something more for the poor beyond simply teaching. He decided to give long-term loans to people who wanted to start their own small enterprises. This initiative was extended on a larger scale through Grameen Bank. According to Yunus, poverty means being deprived of all human value. He regards micro-credit both as a human right and as an effective means of emerging from poverty: “Lend the poor money in amounts which suit them, teach them a few basic financial principles, and they generally manage on their own”, Yunus claims.

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